Gun control and the elementary school shooting in Connecticut (7 letters)

Beneath the headline was a picture that spoke more than the proverbial thousand words. It showed a line of terrified, crying young schoolchildren, hand to shoulder, being led away to safety by a state police officer.

Meanwhile, the gun lobby, the timid politicians who bow to that lobby, and the Supreme Court continue to aid and abet rampant gun violence that is nothing less than domestic terrorism, carried out with weapons of mass destruction that are too freely owned and carried. The enablers say there’s nothing wrong with a nation of 300 million that possesses 285 million guns, nearly one for every man, woman and child. Nothing wrong? Ask those innocent children who will remain scarred for the rest of their days by the nightmare they lived through.

For the sake of all our children, for the future of a bloodied nation, can we not stand up to so-called gun-rights advocates and instead work to preserve a genuine basic American right: life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, all of which are daily threatened by the gun violence epidemic?

Arnold Grossman, Denver

This letter was published in the Dec. 15 edition.

I am presently watching the news on TV about the school shooting in Newtown, Conn., and I am sure there will be another major push for more gun control. In my opinion, as long as this kind of sick violence continues, any teacher who wishes should receive a concealed-carry permit and gun safety training. If there had been just one teacher in that school who had been armed, there would not be more than 20 people killed.

Richard Niebels, Centennial

This letter was published in the Dec. 15 edition.

Kindergarten children. How can we as a nation sink lower than that? We must have national and state conversations that lead to reasonable restrictions on gun ownership and usage that will make us somewhat safer. One TV anchor said, “It’s hard to imagine such violence coming to such a peaceful small town.” No, unfortunately, it’s not hard to imagine this any longer.

Recognize the Second Amendment and the right of sane, law-abiding citizens to own guns for self-defense or hunting. But ban high-capacity ammo clips and restore the ban on military-style assault weapons. Close the “gun show loophole” and Internet sales with no background checks. Find and support courageous politicians in both parties willing to stand up to the NRA the way others have stepped away from Grover Norquist and his no-new-taxes pledge.

Kindergarten children. It’s up to us.

Steve Meyer, Colorado Springs

This letter was published online only.

How to create a perfect storm: De-institutionalize the mentally ill. Provide little funding for the care of the seriously mentally ill in our communities; cut funding in subsequent years. Refuse to educate anyone about the symptoms and disease progression of schizophrenia. Make gun possession, including assault weapons, easier than obtaining a driver’s license. Worship, exclusively, the Second Amendment.

Ka-boom! Boom! Boom! Storms — like the Tuscon, Ariz., shooting-killing and maiming of citizens in public places.

Please, whether you are a Republican, a Democrat, a liberal, a conservative, if you are a governmental mover and shaker, stretch your neck. Pull your brains out of your personal, parochial bubble. The issue is bigger than whom you rub shoulders with or how you make a dollar. The safety of our citizenry is at stake. It’s not gun control or care of the mentally ill. Both need rational study. The overriding issue is public health and safety.

Kudos to Gov. John Hickenlooper for his recognition of the magnitude of the gun problem in this country. I was critical of his seemingly lame response to this issue following the Aurora theater massacre, and am relieved to see his willingness now to take it on wholeheartedly. He will have the support of the majority of Americans behind him.

It is imperative that our leaders finally unmask the unregulated “freedom to bear arms” as outmoded and totally dangerous. Your constituents will thank you for your courage, Governor.

Anne Culver, Denver

This letter was published in the Dec. 15 edition.

So, Gov. John Hickenlooper now says “the time is right” for Colorado lawmakers to consider further gun restrictions. I surmise that’s because the elections are over and the Democrats are in charge of both houses and the governor’s office. Surprise, surprise! To paraphrase Mark Twain: No man’s Second Amendment rights are safe when the legislature is in session, especially when Democrats are in charge.

Lloyd Williams, Arvada

This letter was published in the Dec. 15 edition.

The governor is right to call for further reasonable restrictions on the sales of guns and ammo. Those of us who frequent movie theaters, classrooms or shopping malls should be able to feel secure from assault as we go about our lives. For the public to be trapped and mowed down by the mentally disturbed with automatic weaponry is a direct challenge to a free society. Arresting or burying the perpetrators afterwards just doesn’t cut it anymore.

Susan Williams, Lakewood

This letter was published online only.

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if you make it criminal to own a gun, of any kind, then only criminals will have them. I have may “Assalt rifles” and use them very safely. By outlawing any type of gun, does not fix the issue of them getting it. The black market is huge! Why can u liberal dombasses get that thru your head?!

#2 Comment By Randy On December 14, 2012 @ 10:35 pm

There are millions and millions of guns.

Literally.

You cannot take away all of the guns. And, if you do, you will have propane tanks and knives and bombs and all kinds of ways to kill.

Take away the hatred.

Take away the violence of a society that has encouraged wars for 100 years, and who profit from them. Let us become a non-violent Nation, and our children will follow suit.

Take away the violence and the hatred, and teach non-violence. That will stop the killing, but it will take years.

Teach Martin Luther King and Gandhi and the methods of non-violence, and that can make a difference.

Teach by example. Of course, we already are: we are teaching violence and aggression simply by our Country’s Policies.

Taking away the guns will make no difference at all.

Randy Brown

#3 Comment By Old Enough On December 15, 2012 @ 12:32 am

Tell that to the parents of the 20 little kids who died today, you jerk.

#4 Comment By Bruce Baker On December 15, 2012 @ 12:39 am

I don’t see how hurting millions of gun-owners, gun-users and gun lovers by taking away their guns or enacting any of the myriad of others restriction/tax ideas will sovle any of the problems of Connecticut, Oregon, Aurora, Virginia Tech, etc. Nor do I see how punishing the millions of mentally ill people would solve the problem either. We can only speculate if the Mall Shooting in Oregon enable this evil in Connecticut.

TV stations do not show streakers running naked across sport fields because the KNOW that reporting these incidents will enable/provoke copycats. Indeed, schools in Denver Metro (and lots of other places) switched into lock-down status in fear of copycats. Advertising works. Publicity enables/provokes/challenges other sick, hopeless, enraged folks to copycat.

Switch the reporting of these events. Report the incident not as excitement, but as horrible evil. Do not identify the perpetrator until a week after the event. Show the grief of the parents. Show the lifelong injury inflicted on the victims of past attacks. Interview authorities recounting the evil and human cost of what befells our firends, families and fellow citizens.
Take a page from the way the Media reports our overseas wars. The Media focus on OUR losses. Knowinf of our deaths, grieving families, broken soldiers/heros changes the pubics understanding of our overseas and renders the PEOPLE we are killing into faceless, unkonwn, dehumanized, fuzzy entities. If our Media renders the perpetrator of the mass shooting into facelss, unkonwn, dehumanizied, fuzzy entities, I think Amemria would have less of these incidents

#5 Comment By DR On December 15, 2012 @ 12:45 am

He’s a jerk for stating a simple fact? Really?

#6 Comment By Anonymous On December 15, 2012 @ 1:39 am

What’s really nice is that he lives in that polluted pit called Michigan and doesn’t bother us in Colorado.

An Internet report quoted a father as saying his six-year-old son led other children to safety.
At the same time I admired a six-year-old for having the presence of mind to do this, my mind was screaming “This shouldn’t be happening to six year olds!!!”
Whatever the Founders of this country meant by the Second Amendment, this was not it.
The Amendment clearly references a well-regulated militia. We have several layers of well-regulated militia. The Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, and Coast Guard. The state highway patrols and similar. County and local police departments.
The Founders could never imagine semi-automatic weapons with multiple-round clips.
But, no, th gun lovers elevate guns higher than above all else. EVERYTHING must be sacrificed to their need for bigger guns and more guns.
The shooter shot his mother, shot these kids (kids!!!) and adults, then shot himself.
He got the order completely backwards.

#10 Comment By Anonymous On December 15, 2012 @ 6:59 am

And until we all sing Kumbaya around the campfire while roasting marshmallows, we can keep making and buying bigger and better guns, is that it?
If we discover people playing with matches or incendiary devices, we don’t say “Gee, wouldn’t it be nice if people didn’t start fires.” No, we take away their incendiary devices and matches.

#11 Comment By Anonymous On December 15, 2012 @ 8:31 am

When a commercial airliner crashes and hundreds of people are killed, no one seriously talks about banning “high capacity” aircraft.

When black ice, or fog, or a blizzard, or a dust storm causes (or contributes to) a 140-vehicle pileup on our nation’s highways, no one seriously even suggests banning all privately owned cars.

When a DUI driver runs a red light at 80 mph and smashes into an ice cream parlor…..or a school bus…..or a station wagon carrying a family of 5……any and all suggestions about “banning alcohol” is……dismissed as……the nutty idea it is.

But when a CRIMINAL commits a horrible act of violence with a gun…….all of the sudden it becomes the fault of “gun ownership by law-abiding” people” and “those who defend gun-ownership by law-abiding people” who are to blame.

We don’t blame alcohol; we blame the DUI driver.

We won’t – WON’T – blame “legalized marijuana;” we will – WILL – blame the DUI-STONED-POTHEAD.

We don’t blame ALL drivers for the actions of those who wind up in a 100-car pileup.

And we don’t ground ALL commercial aircraft and pilots for the “rarity” of a aircraft crashing.

If we really, really, really think about it…..it would actually be pretty easy to ban all aircraft from flying and all privately owned vehicles from being driven. It’s not like planes and cars can be hidden under a jacket.

It would be…..”easy” to do that……but it would hardly be REALISTIC today, tomorrow, or any time in the near future. Our country “revolves” around private vehicular transportation.

In the same manner, any and all “gun control” talk MUST be…..REALISTIC.

I’m not terribly opposed to any suggestion that certain types of weapons are far beyond that needed for either hunting or self-defense.

I’m also not terribly opposed to any suggestion that “high-capacity” magazines are beyond what is needed either. I am NOT sure I would agree that a 15-round magazine is “too much”……but would be open to consider a 30-round magazine as being “way too much.”

I’m also not terribly opposed to any suggestion that certain “types” of bullets are beyond what is useful for hunting and/or self-defense,.

But beyond those three mentioned above……we MUST – MUST – be REALISTIC about the guns that exist in this country:

#1 Guns exist……and they are NOT going to “cease to exist” simply because some Liberal Idiot…..says they should. Why? See #2.

#2 Criminals HAVE guns……and Criminals are NOT going to “turn them in” just because some Liberal Idiot says they should. Why Not? BECAUSE THEY ARE CRIMINALS!!!!

Any Liberal Idiot who thinks that a “Gun Law” written on paper will be OBEYED by Criminals……had better read ALL THE OTHER LAWS written on paper that Criminals DISOBEY,,,,,,,,like MURDER, ARMED ROBBERY, RAPE, KIDNAPPING, ASSAULT with and without a deadly weapon, etc etc etc etc.

The ONLY people who “obey the law” are the “law-abiding ones.”

Any and ALL Laws aimed at “disarming criminals” are only going to have the Net Realistic Effect of…..disarming the LAW-ABIDING people……DISARMING the VICTIMS of future crimes…….and will actually have the Net Realistic Effect of Making It EASIER For Armed Criminals To Commit Crimes…….since the only non-law-enforcement people who will have guns would be fellow law-breakers.

Guns exist.

Criminals have guns.

THAT is the REALITY.

And even in places like New York City and Washington DC that have some of the most RESTRICTIVE “gun laws” in this nation……have some of the highest crime rates and crimes-committed-with-a-gun rates in this nation.

When The Government disarms the law-abiding people……..Criminals rejoice.

#12 Comment By Anonymous On December 15, 2012 @ 8:41 am

“Tell that to the parents of the 20 little kids who died today, you jerk.”
———–
Tell…..what?…..exactly?

That a law-breaking armed criminal who just committed a murder at another location was able to walk into a school and shoot 20 kids to death because (1) there wasn’t a cop on the scene to stop him (2) there wasn’t an armed security guard there to stop him (3) there wasn’t one armed teacher or school official to stop him?

Does anyone recall some of the “allegations” of “sub-par security” that was and is being raised against the Aurora Theater?

#13 Comment By Anonymous On December 15, 2012 @ 8:50 am

“The Amendment clearly references a well-regulated militia. It clearly
makes the rest of the Amendment contingent on a well-regulated militia.”
————-
Your….opinion…..would make sense if not for two facts:

(1) They didn’t use the word “militia” in both places. They clearly used the word “people” in the second place……and some people suggest that they did so because it was the “people” that they wanted to have that right.

(2) They didn’t disarm those who had guns then. If they had meant what you are suggesting, they could have shown that that was exactly what they meant by DISARMING EVERYONE who did not belong to a “well-regulated militia.”

#14 Comment By Anonymous On December 15, 2012 @ 8:56 am

“And until we all sing Kumbaya around the campfire while roasting
marshmallows, we can keep making and buying bigger and better guns, is
that it?”
———
peterpi, you do seem to have a……knack……of reading into something…..something that is hardly there.

He never made any such a suggestion……never indicated he desires such a suggestion.

In fact, he basically said what the Colorado Guv said soon after the Aurora Theater Shooting (that the Aurora Theater Shooter threw canisters……that could have just s easily have been bombs…..so banning guns would not have prevented him from trying to kill as many people as he did).

He also is very realistic about the number of guns that exist……and that there is no realistic way anyone is going to convince CRIMINALS WHO WANT TO COMMIT CRIMES……to turn in their guns……since doing so would (1) make it harder for them to commit some crimes (2) make it easier for them to get caught by victims. witnesses, bystanders.

#15 Comment By Anonymous On December 15, 2012 @ 9:09 am

“What’s really nice is that he lives in that polluted pit called Michigan and doesn’t bother us in Colorado.”
—————–
Polluted pit called Michigan?

Or is this a case of…..what was that……about a speck in someone else eye and a log in our own?

#16 Comment By Anonymous On December 15, 2012 @ 9:20 am

The thoughts about not giving these criminal jerks the…..notoriety……they seem to crave……even in death……is thought-provoking.

It seemed that, in the past, the British Media seemed to report a crime, but then limited the suspect’s identity to something like “the police have a person of interest in custody.”

I, myself, rarely use the name(s) of any “killer” in my posts. They are the Columbine Killers, the Aurora Theater Shooter, or Abortion Doctor Tiller’s Killer.

It is probable……that some people want to “go down in history”……even if “going down in history”

#17 Comment By Anonymous On December 15, 2012 @ 9:29 am

“We have several layers of well-regulated militia. The Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, and Coast Guard for starters”
—————
We also have State Troopers, County Sheriffs, Police Officers…..and various Armed Federal and State and County and other Local Law Enforcement Officers.

A lot of good that did at Columbine, the Aurora Theater, or in Virginia Tech, Ft Hood, or in Conneticutt.

#18 Comment By Anonymous On December 15, 2012 @ 9:53 am

You never have been to Israel, have you?

It’s a marvelous country that seems to be very, very safe for American tourists to visit.

In fact, I’ve been there three times and I know many, many friends who have gone there to visit over the years.

Neither I nor anyone else had ANY concerns about our safety at all……even though carrying a gun over there seems to be about as common as can be.

Bus drivers carry guns. Shopkeepers carry guns. The guy at the hotel where we stayed the first night who helped us with our luggage carried a gun.

Yes, there are the many, many Military and Police who carry guns (especially in Jerusalem and especially in the area of the Temple Mount)

#19 Comment By Anonymous On December 15, 2012 @ 11:40 am

Is there a case, I don’t really know, of a concealed weapons carrier using his weapon, having an effect on one of these mass killings? So many people leap to the defense of all sorts of weaponry as somehow an antidote to massacre. And, apparently, there are millions of concealed weapons carriers with millions of weapons and still 28 people are mowed down. Doesn’t seem to be the right direction, Second Amendment notwithstanding.

#20 Comment By Anonymous On December 15, 2012 @ 11:43 am

“When The Government disarms the law-abiding people……..Criminals rejoice.”
—
They do? Where do you find these rejoicing criminals?

#21 Comment By Anonymous On December 15, 2012 @ 11:59 am

I suppose it’s hard to tell pits like Alabama and Michigan
apart. I lived in Michigan for a while: a gloomy, rainy, snowy place, full of derelict factories, malls and people. So I guess, if playing with his little gun makes him feel better about living in such a place, so be it.

#22 Comment By Old Enough On December 15, 2012 @ 1:19 pm

You are welcome. If the shooter had been using my gun there would still be 22 children and adults alive. He would only have been able to kill himself and 4 others. Gun control of large magazines and ARs is needed right now!

#23 Comment By doug h On December 15, 2012 @ 4:02 pm

The second amendent folks always leave out the part about ” a well regulated militia” in their insistance of the right to buy weapons. It is way past time that we regulate gun sales and ownership. It is clear that the gun manufactures in this country are morally bankrupt.

#24 Comment By thor On December 15, 2012 @ 4:16 pm

The rest of the 2nd amendment is not contingent on a well regulated militia. The first part of the amendment mentions the need for a well regulated militia. It is followed by a comma. After the comma, we read that people have a right to keep and bears arms. As for what the fore fathers imagined, there was a lot of things they didn’t imagine. But they wrote a document that allows us to deal with modern issues if properly applied.

#25 Comment By Schoonover Kenneth On December 15, 2012 @ 4:16 pm

How about the broadcast media? They went to great lengths to sensationalize the story, but they have no fingers pointing at them at all. The moment the shootings happened, every major TV station in the country was eagerly reporting about the incident. We even knew the gunman’s name, where he lived, and practically every detail about his personal life. That kind of media overexposure has happened before(think Columbine). It is unproductive and does nothing for the relatives of the victims. If media outlets sensationalize violence, why then should we be surprised when we can’t have a rational discussion about violence in our society? And to top it all off, we once again have gun-control advocates, their allies in the media, and even President Obama calling for more(and tougher) gun laws. I believe that if somebody has a weapon and is determined to use it, that person won’t be deterred by a whole bunch of restrictive laws. He’ll find a place to use his weapon regardless of the consequences. Let’s quit blaming the “gun culture” and instead put at least part of the blame where it belongs–on the media’s eagerness to report every bloody detail of a violent story.

#26 Comment By Anonymous On December 15, 2012 @ 4:20 pm

Bravo!

#27 Comment By Anonymous On December 15, 2012 @ 4:24 pm

They argue that the comma after “well-regulated militia” ends that thought. They argue that the Founders of this country just threw that in there for grins and giggles.
Any student of English understands that the entire rest of the amemndment hangs on those three words, but the gun fanciers wave it away.

#28 Comment By Tommy Ambrose On December 15, 2012 @ 6:23 pm

But you Americans have no qualms at all in your mass slaughtering of foreign children, do you? You immoral cretins accepted with equanimity, indeed often cheered on, Bill Clinton, W. Bush and Obama when they collectively malnourished or vaporized hundreds of thousands of children to death in Afghanistan and/or Iraq. To the present day, you hold the coats of the Israeli Jews while they’re busy dispatching hundreds of Palestinian children to their early deaths by way of the American killing machines with which you so willingly provide them. Americans should mightily hope that there is no such entity as a just God; for if there is, their time of judgement will be grim indeed.

#29 Comment By DR On December 15, 2012 @ 7:37 pm

Yeah. Because he wouldn’t have been able to reload or anything…

#30 Comment By DR On December 15, 2012 @ 7:40 pm

Every single automobile is built with seat belts. Yet, somehow people are still dying in automobile accidents.

#31 Comment By DR On December 15, 2012 @ 7:58 pm

Tell the parents of the kids who died at Columbine during the assault weapons ban and in a “Gun Free Zone” how well those worked out for them. Jerk.

#32 Comment By Anonymous On December 15, 2012 @ 10:24 pm

I see your point but I’m asking if any concealed weapons carrier ever stopped one of these mass killings. People die in traffic accidents, with or without seat belts. But many people do survive because they used their seatbelts. So, has a concealed weapons carrier ever stopped a massacre?

#33 Comment By Old Enough On December 16, 2012 @ 12:13 am

Exactly!

#34 Comment By Bruce Baker On December 16, 2012 @ 1:17 am

Bravo Tommy.
Unfortunately most Americans are too afraid to even look at the truth of
what you say. The Israeli example does illustrate how manipulated and
frightened we are. For every story that tells the evil that befalls the enslaved Israelis (Palestinians) , there are 50 stories that demonize, vilify or ridicule them.
Ask 100 Americans, and more than 90 percent will show contempt,
abhorrence and hatred for enslaved Israelis while expressing admiration, reverence and awe for the government in Israel that commits crimes against humanity on a par with Stalin’s CCCP or the Third Reich. Every Ameircan can you about Ann Frank, but can any Ameircan tell you Iman al-Homs was?

This conditioning of Americans is accomplished by
controlling that stories get told. In our overseas wars we have systematically dehumanized, vilified and diminished the people we kill. Remember the Army Sergeant that cold-bloodedly murdered a dozen Afghanis as they slept in homes. Where is that story? Anyway wall-to-wall coverage there?

If even the slightest hint of disappointment is directed
toward our Media (they are media employees, not professional journalists), the
Media claims they’re only making money. If it bleeds, it leads. Eyeballs watching
and market share means money. Profit justifies everything.

The Media could make a huge contribution towards reducing these
horrific crimes (check out Morgan Freeman’s comments), but the media owners don’t
want these events become more infrequent.
America has become an Old Testament nation. We enjoy thinking we are best and God loves us best. We salivate at the notion that God will smite the transgressors, and we are eager to help God inflict His Wrath in those cases where God appears too slow for our tastes. We love revenge and it is of little consequence whether we take our revenge from the backs of gun-owners or the mentally ill or even better, perhaps the perp was a video-game player.

#35 Comment By Anonymous On December 16, 2012 @ 11:21 pm

The lady cop at New Life Church a handful of years back did just that.

#36 Comment By Anonymous On December 17, 2012 @ 6:34 pm

This is some seriously wishful thinking. The perpetrator was a mentally unstable 20-year-old who was raised by a doomsday prepper. Take away the hate, though, and all would have been well, right?

#37 Comment By Anonymous On December 17, 2012 @ 9:35 pm

If the shooter wanted fame (infamy?), why did he kill himself? Why not stick around to bask in his glory?